Lea Michele: Cory Monteith and I Dated in Glee’s Early Days — Nobody Knew!

Cory Monteith's (Finn) death has been tough for so many reasons, including the fact that he and Glee co-star Lea Michele (Rachel) had such an strong connection. And it turns out that Lea and Cory had actually been dating for much longer than any of us realized.

In the latest issue of Elle magazine, Lea talks in depth about her relationship with Cory. She reveals that she was smitten with him from the moment they met at the start of Glee.

"From the minute I met Cory, I was like, 'This is the most handsome man I've ever seen in my whole life," Lea says.

Lea and Cory became an official couple in late 2011, shortly after her split from actor Theo Stockman. But Lea is now revealing that she and Cory dated when Glee first started, "but nobody really caught on," she says. So sneaky!

And what made them eventually decide to become an official item in 2011? "One day we just looked at each other, and we were like, 'You want to do this?'" Lea says. "We just knew."

Rumors first surfaced about Lea and Cory's relationship when they were seen getting cozy in the background of a Twitter photo of Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Damian McGinty (Rory) back in November 2011. So this new interview with Lea confirms that they were indeed dating at that time.

This interview is incredibly heartbreaking, but we admire Lea for being so open about her personal life and for giving us more details about what a great guy Cory was.